2 Accuse Stephen Ambrose, Popular Historian, of Plagiarism

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: January 5, 2002

Acolumnist and a historian have accused the best-selling author Stephen E. Ambrose of copying passages in his recent book "The Wild Blue." The two cite details and phrasing very similar to descriptions in "The Wings of Morning," a book by the historian, Thomas Childers.

Both books tell the stories of World War II bomber pilots. Professor Ambrose included footnotes in his book acknowledging that Professor Childers's book was a source of information in the relevant pages. But Professor Ambrose does not acknowledge quoting from the book or borrowing phrases or wording.

In next week's issue of The Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes, the columnist and the executive editor of the conservative magazine, argues that Professor Ambrose borrowed far more than what a footnote usually means. Mr. Barnes cites several sentences and paragraphs of "The Wild Blue" that closely echo words in "The Wings of Morning."

In an interview tonight, Professor Childers, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, said he, too, had concluded that Mr. Ambrose borrowed excessively. "I felt sort of disappointed," he said.

Professor Ambrose, a respected historian who is an emeritus faculty member at the University of New Orleans, was unavailable for comment. Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for the book's publisher, the Simon & Schuster division of Viacom , said: "Stephen Ambrose's `The Wild Blue' is an original and important work of World War II history. All research garnered from previously published material is appropriately footnoted."

But the similarity of some passages may provoke debates.

In one section, Professor Childers wrote, "Up, up, up, groping through the clouds for what seemed like an eternity." He added later, "No amount of practice could have prepared them for what they encountered. B-24's, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds all over the sky."

On a similar theme, Professor Ambrose wrote: "Up, up, up he went, until he got above the clouds. No amount of practice could have prepared the pilot and crew for what they encountered — B-24's, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds over here, over there, everywhere."

Elsewhere, Professor Childers wrote, "Howard struggled to master the internal electronics of the radio, building generators, studying vacuum tubes and amplifiers, transformers and transmitters. He disassembled the sets, examined the intricate ganglia of tubes and wires, and reassembled them blindfolded."

Also describing a radio operator, Professor Ambrose wrote, "He mastered the internal electronics of the radio, built generators, studied vacuum tubes and amplifiers, transformers and transmitters. He learned to disassemble a set, then reassemble it blindfolded."

Professor Ambrose appears to have relied on "The Wings of Morning" in particular for descriptions of the discomfort airmen faced aboard the B-24. In one passage, both books contain the following sentence verbatim, "The bombardier, navigator and nose turret gunner were forced to squat down, almost on hands and knees, and sidle up to their stations through the nose wheel well of the ship."

The ensuing descriptions follow a similar structure and share many other words in common. In describing the airmen who manned the twin machine guns in electronically operated positions on the bottom of the bomber, Professor Childers concludes: "It was the most physically uncomfortable, isolated, and terrifying position on the ship. The gunner climbed into the ball, pulled the hatch closed, and was then lowered into position."

In describing those same ball turret guns, Professor Ambrose, whose book centers on the experiences of Senator George McGovern as a B-24 pilot, ends his description, "The ball turret was, as McGovern said, the most physically uncomfortable, isolated, and terrifying position on the plane. The gunner climbed into the ball, pulled the hatch closed and was then lowered into position."

Last night, Professor Childers said he did not think Professor Ambrose had deliberately plagiarized his book.

"I don't attribute any malice to Stephen Ambrose. There is a term the Germans have, `Mit dem linken Hand' — he did it with the left hand, which means it is something that he is not focused on, he was focused on something else."

Mr. Ambrose is not only among the best-selling American historians, he is also among the most prolific. He has written more than 25 books.

At least six books he has had published since 1994 have been best- sellers. In addition to World War II, he has written about the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Another book, "Band of Brothers," was made into a television mini-series that was recently shown on HBO.

Mr. Ambrose is hardly the first popular historian or writer to face accusations of carelessness. Last year, for example, a history professor found that the writer David McCullough's best-selling biography of John Adams took a mistaken quotation from Thomas Jefferson as its subtitle, "The Colossus of Liberty."

Previously, scholars have accused the writer Susan Sontag of borrowing phrases in her novel published in 2000 "In America" from previous works, including a novel by Willa Cather. Ms. Sontag has said the echoes were intentional, for literary effect.